(apologies for the delay in publication due to skeleton volunteer translators over Christmas)

JAYAPURA – The Puncak Jaya armed wing of the Free Papua Organization ( OPM ) through the Secretary General Anton Tabuni, has denied the claims of Puncak Jaya regent Henock Ibo that 100 OPM members Papua led by Goliath Tabuni have come down from the mountain to join the community.

Through mobile phone contact to Bintang Papua on Sunday 22/12, Anton Tabuni stressed that what is presented by Henock Ibo is false. “That’s not true and nonsense , what hundred people ? These statements are irresponsible, we are all at our headquarters, ” Anton said .

” What was delivered was a political sham that does not make sense , and not rational at all, we under the command of Gen. Goliath Tabuni are fighters, we are not like the officials who tried to come under favour of the president and claim that Goliath and Anton Tabuni have given up. It’s nonsense, ” Anton said .

Anton also questioned the total of 100 people who was mentioned. “How could the number be exactly be 100 people? What’s this? We have fought for more than 50 years and had a lot of sacrifice, so there ‘s no turning back. This is just propaganda, there is no reason for us to give up, not that, ” he said .

Previously , the Puncak Jaya regent also claimed that the 100 people who surrendered would be trained to become members of Civil Service Police Unit or municipal police in Mulia, Pincak Jaya. (bom/don/l03 )

The death of General Danny Kogoya of the National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Movement (TPN / OPM) on 14 December 2013 in the border town of Vanimo PNG was not a natural death but rather a death caused by a scenario that was created by the Indonesian Armed Forces.

On 2 October 2012 Kogoya was invited by someone to meet them at the Banana Leaves Hotel in Entrop, Jayapura. Once there he and his companions were besieged by Indonesian Armed Forces who shot and disabled Kogoya by shooting one of his feet, even though he had shown no resistance and had no intention of fleeing.

His foot was amputated at the Police Hospital Bhayangkara without being allowed to have a family member present. Only a few days after the operation he was taken to the Police District Command Headquarters to undergo interrogation, despite having just experienced a most traumatising injury followed by a major operation. Throughout the time he was held by the Armed Forces he did not receive adequate medical attention.

When taken before the court an almost unheard of situation occurred, with the extension of time for Kogoya and his companions’ cases to be processed as applied for by the public attorney, actually expiring before the judges had reached their decision. With the result that Kogoya and his companions were released under the law on 10 May 2013, even though they had been previously charged under the extremely serious charge of treason (makar).

Following their release, Kogoya fled over the border to the town of Vanimo in PNG to seek safety and treatment for his foot. According to the General Chairperson of the National Committee of West Papua (KNPB) Victor Yeimo, the results of the medical examination at the Vanimo Public Hospital showed remaining symptoms suggestive of possible poisoning. This has led to suspicions by some that Kogoya may have been intentionally given a highly toxic chemical at the time his foot was amputated at the Indonesian Armed Forces hospital, that has such an effect on the body organs that it kills the body slowly (1).

Finally on 14 December General Kogoya died due to the combined causes of an infection of his amputation wound as well as kidney failure.

The Indonesian Armed Forces clearly did not want Kogoya to die in custody which would have attracted attention. The circumstances point to the Armed Forces having interfered with the matter of the legal provision for an extension of time a person can be detained up to the time the court passes sentence. As it is suspected that the processing of Kogoya and his companions cases in the Jayapura court were intentionally delayed so that the period they could be legally detained would expire before the panel of judges had handed down criminal sentence, thereby creating a scenario whereby the prisoners would be released avoiding General Kogoya dying in custody.

It is a rare occurrence indeed for Papuans who have been arrested and accused of treason, to be subsequently released due to the expiry of the period approved by the courts for them to be detained before there is a sentence handed down by the courts. Usually if the time approved is about to expire or has just expired and the judges still haven’t handed down their decision, the authorities and the prison authorities work together to arrange an further extension of time. In the instance of the late Eko Berotabui and his associates for example in 2006 when the period he could be detained prior to the courts ruling had expired and the family and lawyers were pressuring for his release, the prison and authorities worked together to issue a new document extending the period he could be detained. Similar circumstances also arose in the case of Filep Karma and associates in 2005 with the prison and authorities working together to detain him on the stated basis of awaiting the decision regarding criminal cases. However in the case of Danny Kogoya there was distinctly something else going on.

It is strongly suspected that the Indonesian authorities created a set of circumstances to hide their covert killing of the Papuan independence warrior General Danny Kogoya. This is not the first time the Papuan community has seen such methods applied to hide the Indonesian Armed Forces killing of Papuan liberation warriors. Such means are extremely cruel and amount to a most evil inhumane act against a human being.

The organisation Front PEPERA:

Demands that the Republic of Indonesia (RI) take responsibility for the death of General Danny Kogoya.

Demands that RI cease killing indigenous Papuans by both overt and cover means.

Calls on the International Solidarity community to lobby RI and the United Nations to treat exhaustively the problem of the legal and political status of West Papua.

Footnote.:

1. The majority of the Papuan indigenous community is convicted that poisoning is being frequently used by the Indonesian forces in Papua against the indigenous community.

Selpius Bobii is General Chairperson of Front PEPERA and is a Papuan Freedom Political Detainee held in Abepura Prison, Jayapura, Papua, Indonesia

From our partners in Jayapura, MAJALAH SELANGKAH, with additional reporting from West Papua Media

December 16, 2013

A well known figure in the armed wing of the Papuan Independence Organisation (Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM)) Danny Kogoya, is reported to have died at a location in PNG close to the Indonesian PNG border on Sunday (15 December 2013).

A contact for majalahselangkah.com in Jayapura explained that Kogoya died as a result of an infection in his right leg, which had been amputated following being shot when arrested by Police in Jayapura at the Dani Hotel in Entrop Jayapura on 2 September 2012.

Police at the time said Kogoya was attacked due to him being a suspect in a shooting at Jayapura and was shot in the foot when trying to flee through the back of the hotel. Following being shot he was taken to the police hospital (Bhayangkara) at Kotaraja for acute medical treatment.

He was then detained in a cell at the Jayapura Police Headquarters, after which he was moved to the Abepura Prison. He faced the State Court (Class I.A) in Jayapura for suspected involvement in the abovestated shooting but was eventually released by the law.

Once released he went to Camp Victoria (an OPM Camp) close to the border between PNG and Indonesia. Whilst there a member of the governing forces in the border region sent a photo of Kogoya to the police in Jayapura, resulting in him being yet again threatened with arrest. So finally he fled to PNG.

The journey to PNG led to an infection in the wound where his foot had been amputated, so he was given traditional treatment in the forest of PNG. At that time he was quoted by the ABC as having urged the leaders of the OPM who had gathered at Camp Victoria, to continue the struggle to separate from Indonesia.

“ My foot has been cut-off because I am a member of the OPM and I personally urge for independence (for Papua). Papua must be independent of Indonesia” stated Danny Kogoya to the ABC.

Kogoya’s Body to be Taken Home

Activist Matius Murib wrote on Facebook that it was planned for the body of the late Danny Kogoya to be taken back to Papua to be buried. He stated that coordination and administrative requirements to enable that had already been arranged.

“In relation to the plan to send the body of a Papuan activist Danny Kogoya from Vanimo, PNG back to Jayapura city this date (16/12/2013), technical coordination at the border and the arranging of administrative matters, protection and family to receive the body at Vanimo have already been organised and the family have guaranteed security in regards to the order of things and also that all will run smoothly” noted Murib on Facebook.

He requested the Police to not enter the area in the vicinity of the funeral home at Kamkey Abepura. Journalists have been banned from joining the funeral ceremony from the time of the funeral procession, at the funeral home and until the end of the funeral proceedings.

On Tuesday afternoon, stringers for West Papua Media had reported that heavily armed police and army had deployed in their hundreds around the home area of Kogoya outside Jayapura, escalating an already tense situation. Our sources have also reported that no protest actions are planned, amid intelligence agencies actions to focus on a propaganda campaign discouraging local residents from commemorating Kogoya’s death. According to our stringers, present in Jayapura, this campaign of broadcasts and public announcements is threatening the use of force if any mourning “crosses over to support pro-independence”.

The situation is being monitored closely, and may escalate. For urgent updates, please see our Twitter feed @westpapuamedia .

Defence witnesses have revealed the extensive and systemic use of casual torture and inhumane treatment by Indonesian police, whilst testifying at the Makar (treason) trial of two West Papuan peaceful political activists in Yapen District Court, Serui, on April 9.

The activists had been threatened with twenty years jail for organising a nonviolent march about media freedom in West Papua. The two men, Edison Kendi (38) and Yan Piet Maniamboi (36) were arrested for their involvement in organising peaceful demonstrations in Yapen on May 1, and August 9, 2012 for World Day of Indigenous Peoples, and have been held in atrocious conditions in Serui prison and have been subjected to routine and regular torture since their arrest.

Banner at freedom of expression rally rejecting Indonesian rule in Papua on the International Day for Indigenous People. Photo via Alex Rayfield from West Papua Media stringers in Yapen.

The treason trial has been beset by procedural mistakes and the failure to appear of several police officers as prosecution witnesses. Edison Kendi is the National Federated Republic of West Papua’s Governor of Saireri region.

According to independent observers present at the April 9 hearing, the four defence witnesses testified that they were beaten and tortured during detention and interrogation by Yapen police, and were forced to provide false information to stop the torture. The presiding judge suspended the trial for five minutes to talk with witnesses as the BAP (Case Records) were in danger of being revoked by the judge, legally inadmissible as they were based on testimony extracted under torture.

One of the witnesses, named John, answered Prosecutor Matius Matulesi’s questions on the validity of the Case Records version of testimony, the prosecutor disagreed with John and called him “Swanggi” (Devil or Ghost). Matulesi also began to threaten both the witnesses and defendants with hoax charges for testifying about their mistreatment. Matulesi, a Christian native of Maluku, is known as a hard-liner and being “very inhumane in demanding punishment to the fullest extent on native Papuans in Serui, according to human rights observers at the trial.

Edison Kendi had previously testified about the brutality inflicted on him and Maniamboi whilst being held at Yapen police station, and then after their transfer to Serui prison on December 9, 2012 . Kendi wrote in statement provided to observers:

“Since we were arrested we were tortured, kicked, pierced with wood, hit with wood, so we suffered extraordinary bruises and swellings, but (we were) never treated (for injuries) during our detention at the Yapen police station. Police did not allow us to be treated, for the reason we are OPM (Free Papua Movement).”

Matius Matulesi has also come in for heavy criticism over his violations of basic prisoner rights to medical treatment in this case, for injuries sustained by the defendants whilst under torture by Yapen police. According to Edison Kendi, “On December 19, 2012 I submitted an application to the clinic in the Prisons for medical treatment, but I was not allowed to go out (to the hospital) by the Attorney on behalf of Matius Matulesi, SH – so we just keep quiet and bore the pain. I’ve been treated at the clinic LP / prisons but with no improvement. I was sick when swelling on both my legs because of torture when captured and examined at the police Yapen station. I have repeatedly applied for treatment outside of LP / prisons but it’s all just all in vain since the detention December 6, 2012 – January 21, 2013 is not permitted by the prosecutor Mathius Matulesi, SH”.

Matulesi also allegedly prevented Kendi from attending the funeral of his father, allowing him only two minutes with his father’s body before being taken back to prison, despite other Indonesian prisoners, including prisoners convicted of violent terrorism offences, routinely granted this basic right.

The trial was adjourned for the prosecutor to present two investigators from the police station at the next session to be confronted with the witnesses’ testimony.

Markus Yenu was arrested at the side of the road in from of Daniel Sakwatorey’s house (former political prisoner in Papua, 2008) at Sanggeng Manokwari West Papua. The arrest was by Manokwari’s Criminal Police Unit at 11.32am West Papua time, on the order of Manokwari’s Criminal Police AKP. KRISTIAN SAWAKI. The Manokwari Criminal Police officers were driving a black Inova with the number plate DS.9977.

According to Markus Yenu’s evidence (he’s the Executive Governor of the West Papua National Authority District 2 Manokwari) after he was arrested and taken to the police station at Manokwari, he was immediately taken to an interrogation room and asked to give information about a peaceful demonstration on the 17th January 2013 during which the morning star flag was flown. There were various sized flags flown, and also biased political speeches from several leaders from the Free Papua movement who were inciting people to overthrow the legitimate government.

Markus Yenu also gave evidence that when he was in the interrogation room at the Manokwari Police Station he was visited by Kombes (Pol) Yakobus Marzuki former chief of police in 2008 and now Director of Papuan Police Intelligence. Marzuki told Yenu:

Comprehensive data from the Police indicated Markus Yenu was involved with provoking the acts of arson and destruction that three police officers faced on the 5th December 2012 following the shooting of Thimotius Ap.

In the near future police plan to meet with Kesbangpol to get rid of all organisations that don’t support the Ideology of a United Republic of Indonesia (NKRI)

Eight people are already dead, but police and TNI will be pursuing and removing any subversive groups both in the forest and the city.

Whereas for Markus Yenu there was an order from police headquarters to disable him.

According to Yenu, the Director of Papuan Police Intelligence said many other things indicating a threat to human rights and democracy activists in Papua.

Yenu said that, ‘After me, the police will arrest another six people who have been identified as suspects

Rate this:

Share this:

Like this:

Posts navigation

#LiveUpdatesPapua crisis monitoring

When foreign journalists are banned from an Occupied Land, who better to tell the story than the people who live it. Your donations support and help deliver training for a free and independent media in Papua, safe from harm from those who want to prevent the story getting out. We are entirely non-profit and rely on your support to continue our work. Please donate generously.

It looks like the WordPress site URL is incorrectly configured. Please check it in your widget settings.

Papuans Behind Bars is a new project to document the cases of West Papuan Political prisoners. That site has profiles of current and former political prisoners and releases monthly news updates on arrests, trials, etc. West Papua Media is proud to be working with Papuan Behind Bars

Background information on West Papua and its history for journalists and bloggers

Intellectual Property

The West Papua Media logo, name, Westpapuamedia.info, West Papua Media Alerts, Safe Witness Journalism, eyeSAFEMoJo, isafemojo, and Safe Witness Broadcasting, FiveARM (Field Investigation Vertically Exhaustive Assessment and Reporting Methodology for Human Security Incidents), JournoTriage, and Journalism Triage Protocol are all original creations of West Papua Media, and we assert all rights to the use of these names exclusively. Any third parties attempting to use our name or derivatives of our identity without permission are in breach of Copyright and will be subjected to DMCA orders.

Content Usage

Any reprints or syndication for non-commercial use must be attributed to Westpapuamedia.info and the original content author. This extends to original text, audio, video or photos appearing on westpapuamedia.info. Any commercial or for-profit use is subject to negotiation and/or payment/donation and is subject to copyright to West Papua Media and/or original content creators. Please contact editor @ westpapuamedia.info for syndication or content use requests.

Follow

Partner Content

West Papua Media also utilises content from other outlets and partners under Creative Commons principles for non-profit use. West Papua Media retains the right to reprint, embed or syndicate without charge any article or content by other organisations that has been written or produced with the assistance of any of our staff, fixers, stringers or editorial team.
However, we respect the assertion of rights to intellectual property and will honour any reasonable request. We are non-commercial so we cannot pay you, but we can greatly enhance the spread of your content.
We will endeavour to remove any content that is so requested by copyright holders, and if commercial use is sought from us, we will fully disclose to copyright holders the request, seek further permissions, and if payment is given to West Papua Media, we will pass on proceeds to copyright holders in accordance with their wishes and rights.

Our Mission

West Papua Media's principal mission is to assist in the development and advocacy of a free and open media capacity for West Papua, and to provide a Public Interest journalism service on issues affecting West Papua, for the international community. Contributions subject to editorial policy always welcomed. Donations are welcome and required to enable this mission to succeed.